- St. Aubert and Emily take off on a winding road to Languedoc after saying goodbye to their good buddy Barreaux.
- Alrighty, get ready for some detailed descriptions of the landscape. Emily can't get over how pretty the forest and mountains are, and everything is glorious, and did we mention she's a major hippie-child?
- But St. Aubert is really into nature scenery, too. As they enter a valley, St. Aubert is impressed by how gorgeous and romantic everything is. He almost expects to see a bandit pop out from behind some rocks.
- As Michael the muleteer (that's mule-driver in English) is driving along, the group hears a gunshot. St. Aubert gets his pistol ready, because it's probably that bandit he was dreaming about earlier.
- But no, it's a well-intentioned young man named Valancourt! Turns out he's a fellow traveler.
- Emily and St. Aubert give Valancourt a ride into the nearest town, where they all spend the night at the nearest inn.
- It's a nice inn and everything, but Michael the muleteer gets mad when he thinks his mules are being slighted. The innkeeper doesn't want them to sleep in a bedchamber—fancy that!
- Valancourt solves the problem by persuading the innkeeper to let the mules sleep wherever they darn please. He's a problem-solver, that one.